A Long Road Back

Ex-sox Leflore Again Nourishing Big-league Hopes

Six women sit around a card table playing bingo in the recreation room of Crestwood's Andrew Biela Center for senior citizens.

They don't appear to be baseball enthusiasts and certainly would know a B5 before an E-6.

Bulletins on the wall alert members to upcoming events. The only baseball-related item is a group trip to a White Sox game.

Yet somewhere in this building is the Cook County Cheetahs' office. And in the break room, one door down from that cramped office, is Ron LeFlore.

Since January, LeFlore has served as a coach for the Cheetahs, an independent minor-league team that begins its first season in the Frontier League on Wednesday night. It's the same Ron LeFlore who electrified crowds with his daring baserunning, entertained fans with his outfield miscues and disappointed them with off-field problems.

Playing baseball is a thing of the past for LeFlore, 50. Luckily, he says, so are the myriad problems that ended his career in 1983 after nine seasons.

His focus is on developing talent, perhaps starting the next great stolen-base king on his way to "the show."

"The oldest kid here is 27, so these are guys we can get in and really instruct," LeFlore said. "That's been taken out of some major-league affiliates.

"They pay so much money that they really don't have time to instruct guys. The former major-leaguers involved in the independent leagues are totally, fundamentally sound. We have an opportunity to give these kids the fundamentals they need to get to the next level."

There are streaks of gray evident under LeFlore's Cheetahs cap. He is a little heavier than he was in his playing days, but he's trim enough to claim he could still steal a base because of his ability to break down a pitcher.

It's that knowledge, along with a certain bravado, that LeFlore is trying to impart to his charges in Crestwood.

Happy birthday

LeFlore's first big-league tryout is etched in his memory as firmly as each birth of his four children.

It was June 16, 1972, when he arrived at Tiger Stadium on furlough from Michigan State Prison in Jackson, where he was serving 3 1/2 years for armed robbery. It was also his 24th birthday.

"I had a phenomenal tryout," LeFlore recalled with a smile, as if he were reliving each hit and the speed with which he ran the bases. "I hit the ball in the upper deck, which I didn't do much when I got to the Tigers. I had all the tools."

Billy Martin, the Tigers' manager at the time, was the man who gave LeFlore his break. Martin's friend Jimmy Butsacaris had a friend at Jackson who tipped them off about a phenomenal talent at the prison.

After LeFlore wrote a letter to the Tigers, Butsacaris and Martin went to see him.

Martin was fired before LeFlore got to the majors. He'd later manage in Texas, New York and Oakland, and LeFlore believes Martin recognized his intensity and passion for the game.

"I beat up on (Martin's) teams," LeFlore said. "I think he respected me for that because he discovered a good talent and I didn't go awry. I was a good ballplayer."

After three minor-league stops, LeFlore reached the Tigers in 1974 and played for them until 1979, making the All-Star team in 1976. He was dealt to Montreal for pitcher Dan Schatzeder in 1980, then played his final two seasons with the White Sox.

His specialty was stealing bases: LeFlore stole 455 in his career and is the only player to lead both leagues in stolen bases, swiping 68 for the Tigers in 1978 and 97 for the Expos in 1980.

"He slid into second base so many times and with such authority, I'm surprised he didn't break his ankles," said Gary Carter, a teammate on the Expos.

LeFlore is quick to point out that his resume isn't limited to impressive stolen base totals. He batted .300 or better three times, including a career-best .325 in 1977, and led the league in runs scored with 126 in 1978. He had a .288 career batting average, 1,283 hits and hitting streaks of 30 and 27 games during the 1977 season with the Tigers.

And a prominent place among Nolan Ryan's strikout victims--LeFlore was No. 2,000 and 2,500.

"Struck me out 22 of the first 44 times I faced him," he said. "But he didn't get me from that point on.

"I came up as a 26-year-old rookie, so I really learned the game while I was on the major-league roster. I also played in 155 games a year, so I didn't take many days off. If I wasn't maimed, I was going out on the field. Today's ballplayers don't know what that's about.

"I'm proud of my accomplishments. If you put it in perspective, I did more in the game during the period of time I played than some guys who played all their lives."

By his own admission, LeFlore's time should have been much longer.

Problems ahead

How does a major-league center-fielder allow a routine fly ball to hit him square on the head? Playing for the White Sox, LeFlore had that memorable mishap in a 1982 game against Boston.